User:PrincessOroma/sandbox

This article will depict Traditional Cuisine and Languages of the natives of Nigeria. It will cover the history, recipes and general Knowledge about Nigerian Cuisine and Languages.

NIGERIAN CUISINE
Nigerian cuisines are highly dependent on the kinds of animals and plants that are available to different regions. Nigeria being the largest country and population in Africa, and its large number of ethnic groups influences the types of cuisines in the country. With such a variety of people, the food varies and it is difficult to pick a national dish.

Traditional meals are often starchy staples and are usually accompanied by soups ans stews; onions, tomatoes and okra can be used to flavor these stews. Each part of Nigeria has its own regional favorites which is dependent on customs, tradition and religion. Cuisines for people in the north are usually influenced by agricultural and livestock products as they are mostly into farming and cattle rearing. Northern cuisines are composed of farm products, meats and different kinds of fruits; due to their religion, they do not eat pig meat, as they are mostly Muslims. . In the north, grains such as millet, sorghum, and corn are boiled into a porridge-like dish that forms the basis of the diet. This is often served with oil-based soups flavored with onions, okra and tomatoes; meat is not always used in the preparation.Due to Fulani cattle herders of the northern region, dairies like fresh milk and yogurt are common and are not meant to be refrigerated. The Hausa people of that region like to eat meat in the form of Suya.

In the southern parts of Nigeria, crops like corn, yams, cassava, plantains and potatoes are the based diet. They are dried, grounded into flour and used to make a thick, sticky paste or dough. This is usually eaten with soups or oil-based stews made with chicken, beef, goat, okra, tomatoes, onions, bitter leaves etc. African yams are different compared to yams grown in the western part of the world. They are pale, barely sweet and are not commonly found in supermarkets. Rice is also an important part of the Nigerian diet, though enough is not grown domestically to meet its high demands. In 2010, Nigeria brought in over one billion dollars worth of rice, becoming the world’s second largest importer of rice. Fried foods cooked in vegetable, coconut or Palm oil are often served with rice e.g. plantain which is a favorite dish in Nigeria. People from the river side regions in Nigeria are into fish farming and they depend mostly on sea foods; these are places where you can find different fish recipes. Snacks are common in a Nigerian diet, some popular snacks are: Chin chin, Puff Puff (food), plantain chips, Roasted corn, Ground nut, meat pie, Suya, coconut candy, Kilishi etc.

However, throughout the years through trade and other methods, there have been exchanges of foods and different products from different regions which has enabled them to create tasty cuisines; that is why there are a lot of different Nigerian cuisines. There are a wide range of fruits grown across the tropical south of Nigeria e.g. papaya, pineapples, oranges, coconuts, mangoes,African Breadfruit and bananas are very common. . Alcohol is also very popular in the southern parts of the country, but less so in the northern areas; this is because there is a heavy Islamic influence. Perhaps the most popular form of alcohol is Palm wine, a tart alcoholic drink that comes from palm trees; Palm wine is often distilled further to make strong gin-like liquor. Other beverages produced locally in Nigeria are Kunu, Zobo, fura da nono and soya bean milk.

Within the forest zone, several woody plants of nutritional importance occur naturally. The fruits, seeds, leaves, twigs, and occasionally flowers of the plants, form common ingredients in a variety of traditional Nigerian dishes.

Customs and Occasional Foods

Food in Nigeria is traditionally eaten by hand. However, with the growing influence of Western culture, forks and spoons are becoming more common; more so locally in the villages. Whether people eat with their hands or utensils, it is considered dirty and rude to eat using the left hand. Cooking is an important skill taught at very young age to both the male and female child, even more so to the female child. Most cooking are done by the ladies, and families often cook their own meal rather than eat out. Christian holidays include the end of Ramadan, Easter, Good Friday, and Christmas. An example of a Christmas feast includes obe didin (roasted goat), jollof rice, chicken stew, Moin moin, iyan (pounded yams), chopped liver etc.

Due to Western influences especially in the urban areas, have changed Nigerian eating habits. City residence are now familiar with the canned, frozen, and prepackaged foods found in most Western supermarkets; Foreign restaurants also have become common in larger urban cities. However, supermarkets and restaurants are too expensive for the average Nigerian; thus only the wealthy can afford these western foods. Most urban Nigerians seem to combine traditional cuisine with a little of Western style foods while Rural Nigerians tend to stick more with traditional foods and preparation techniques.

LANGUAGE OF NIGERIA
The number of recorded languages in Nigeria are 529, of these 522 are living and 7 are extinct. Of the living languages, 21 are institutional, 76 are developing, 357 are vigorous, 26 are in trouble, and 42 are dying.

The official language in Nigeria is English. It was chosen to aid the cultural and linguistic unity of the country’s post-colonization by the British. English as a first language however, "remains an exclusive preserve of a small minority of the country's urban elite, and is not spoken at all in some rural areas".

Some Languages in Nigeria due to English influences have evolved, there are now urban versions of major languages. An example is Lagosian is the term given to the style of Yoruba spoken in the city Lagos. Lagosian is considered by young Yorubas to be the most sophisticated version of the language; Yorubas also have a tendency to add an “o” at the end of words to add emphasis. When this gets extended to English, we have words such as “Sorry-o” which is usually shouted to someone who is suffering from a tragedy. Pidgin another popular urban language spoken across Nigeria within the lower working class, cuts across ethnic lines, provides a means of communication among the disparate ethnic groups that live and work side by side in the large urban centers.

The three main languages Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are spoken by more than 65% of the population. According to researches, after 48 years of nationhood very few Nigerians are interested in learning to speak another ethnic group's language. Recently it is reported that dozens of local languages in Nigeria are under threat because of neglect and outside influences. Nigeria is one of the most linguistically diverse countries on earth, but many children don't learn their Mother tongue (disambiguation); therefore languages need to be protected and more widely taught in order to survive. "Nigerian languages remain very poorly researched compared with indigenous languages in Europe, the Americas and Australia". According to Linguistics expert Samuel Aje, defines Language as the customs and traditions of the people and its neglect has contributed to the struggle being faced by many African countries.

Another area which has been poorly documented until recently are sign languages, spoken typically by deaf communities and in some cases, also by hearing individuals. It has been recorded that there is a Nigerian sign language taught in deaf schools, but it is derived from American Sign Language (ASL). Information about numbers of users and their competence is extremely sparse. There has been one indigenous sign language that has been documented, used by the Bura people in North East of Nigeria.